Many websites are available which provide users with a wide range of services. These websites may be accessed through the internet or through applications downloaded onto a mobile phone, tablet, or other personal computing device. Exemplary websites include websites listing goods or services for sale and mobile banking applications.
A user browsing a website may desire to speak to a customer service representative regarding purchasing a product, navigating a web page or screen, or displayed information. Typically, the user calls a customer service phone number and explains who he is, where he is on the website, and what he is trying to accomplish. These explanations are needed in order for the customer service representative to provide assistance.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for routing both a user call and user-related information to a customer service representative. The user-related information may include the location of the user on the website, the history of the user's activity on the website, and/or other information that may assist the customer service representative in providing assistance to the customer. This is desirable at least because it enables a customer service representative to provide contextual help to the customer and increase the efficiency and speed of the help provided.
Additionally, many websites require a user to sign in and authenticate his identity using one or more usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, security codes or other identifying information. When an authenticated user desires to call customer service, a customer service representative typically requires him to re-authenticate his identity prior to providing assistance.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for enabling cross-channel authorization between an internet website and a calling center. The cross-channel authorization may enable an authenticated website user to speak to a customer service representative without having to re-authenticate his identity. Furthermore, the cross-channel authorization may transmit user data to the call service representative, enabling the representative to provide the user with contextual help.